Brassieres that are formed on circular knitting machines comprise a knitted tube that is subsequently turned inside itself to form a double-layer fabric construction. The knitting machine is programmed to form a pair of shallow and spaced breast cups, and cut lines for arm and head openings. Brassieres formed in this manner are intended to be sheer, and thus do not include laminated foam layers. Rather, the circular knitting machine is programmed to form a pair of loosely-knitted areas corresponding to the breast cups. In the case of small-breasted women, this knitted construction is sufficient when the brassiere is completed, i.e., torso-encircling straps, and shoulder straps, as desired, are attached and the fabric edges are trimmed.
When larger cup sizes are desired, cup molding machines are used to mold only the fabric layers comprising the cups of the completed brassiere. As best shown in FIG. 1, a typical molding apparatus 10 comprises a flat bed 12 having a lower mold plate 14 with a pair of spaced-apart female cavities 13 dimensioned for the desired diameter of the breast cup. An upper male mold plate 15 includes a pair of spaced-apart male mold members 17 that are positioned above the female cavities and corresponding in diameter to the pair of female cavities. Since lamination is not being performed, the male molds serve only to stretch and shape the double-layer fabric of the brassiere, shown generally as A. The breast cup areas A1 and torso-encircling straps A2 must be placed flat on the flat bed 12 of the molding apparatus 10 for the molding step. Spaced-apart hold-down members 19 are provided to tautly secure the brassiere A in place for the molding step. This molding machine and method are not an issue with brassieres having rear closures where the torso-encircling straps A2 can be spread out, but is a significant problem with sports brassieres, which are formed to slip-over and do not have rear closures. As shown in FIG. 1, there is no practical means for wrapping a sports brassiere around the flat bed 12. Thus, for these brassieres, as shown in FIG. 2, the torso-encircling straps must be cut so that the brassiere can be placed flat on the molding surface. Following molding, the straps must then be seamed, which adds an additional step to the manufacturing process. Alternatively, another method attempted has been to fold the double layer construction such that the two brassiere cup areas overlap, and then subsequently mold all four layers with a single male and female mold. Molding four layers simultaneously, however, with a single male mold and single female cavity, yields non-uniformly, unsatisfactory, molded brassiere cups.